Report: Connecticut Is Less Competitive After Federal Health Care Reform

MATTHEW STURDEVANT

The individual health insurance market is less competitive in Connecticut since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare, the Kaiser Family Foundation said in a report released Monday.

Of the seven states to release enrollment data by insurer, Connecticut and Washington had fewer options for people buying health plans on the individual market, according to Kaiser foundation, a non-profit health policy research organization.

California and New York, the largest states in the study, each has a more competitive insurance market today compared with 2012, Kaiser found.

The analysis looks at three metrics: market share of the largest insurer; the number of insurers with at least 5 percent of the market share; and how evenly market share is distributed across insurers.

In 2012, Connecticut's individual health-insurance market was more evenly distributed among a number of insurers:

Connecticut has fewer insurer options available on Access Health CT, its public health exchange, which was created by the Affordable Care Act.

As of Feb. 18, two insurers dominated 97 percent of health plans sold through Access Health CT:

— 60 percent were Anthem policies

— 37 percent were ConnectiCare.

— A new co-op, HealthyCT, accounted for the remaining 3 percent.

"Despite a less competitive exchange market and higher than average premiums, Connecticut has been very successful in enrolling consumers," Kaiser Family Foundation wrote in the report.

"Exceeding the state's own expectations, it is currently ranked second in the nation of states that have enrolled the largest portion of their potential exchange enrollees (Vermont is currently number 1," Kaiser said. "Connecticut's success could be attributed in part to its usage of Apple-inspired storefronts in enrolling residents through the exchange."

Nevada is slightly more competitive since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, while Minnesota and Rhode Island are unchanged, according to the foundation.